Long walk from hotel to meet our English speaking tour guide of the Gion District at night. On the way to meet our guide, we stopped and shopped and bought a few souvenirs in the historic district of Gion.
Marlon took us to the Nishiki Market before finding our way to the walking tour. Nishiki
Market was a narrow covered street about 5 blocks longs. The
shopping street was lined with one hundred shops and restaurants. This
place is known as "Kyoto's Kitchen". We didn't find much we wanted to
eat. In fact we lost our appetite.
We
are early for our tour so Mary and I got some ice cream and sat and ate
it before the Gion Night Tour. They made the ice cream to order with
their special machine. They took a pod from the freezer and placed it in the machine. Pushed a button and
out came ice cream you ordered (soft serve cones). An ice
cream keurig! Unique flavors....... black vanilla, black vanilla bean, soy and black sesame. Mary and I really enjoyed the ice cream.
We were to meet our tour guide here at this river. We are all excited about the night time tour of Gion District.
Our tour guide has arrived :-) 
Yasaka Shrine was built to honor Susanoo-no-Mikoto, a Japanese god who defeated an eight-headed serpent and saved the citizens of Kyoto from many disasters
The view looking out from the entrance to the Yasaka Shrine was absolutely breath taking. Totally am loving this night tour of Kyoto.
View of Gion District from Shrine
Our guide took us to a store that had souvenirs and a float that is carried in the Gion Matusuri.The Festival Floats of Gion Matsuri has many beautiful floats. All of them are decorated with beautiful tapestries from Nishijin
and from all over the world.
Our guide took us to a store that had souvenirs and a float that is carried in the Gion Matusuri.The Festival Floats of Gion Matsuri has many beautiful floats. All of them are decorated with beautiful tapestries from Nishijin
and from all over the world.
This
is the old part of Kyoto. They are not so loud and flamboyant as in
Tokyo. The shops had small signs, no bright neon. They speak a little
more quietly.
We had an amazing tour guide that knew his history of Kyoto and spoke perfect English.
Born in 1572, Izumo no Okuni is the originator of kabuki theater. She was miko at the Grand Shrine
of Izumo who began performing this new style of dancing,
singing and acting at the dry riverbeds of Kyoto. Kabuki is now mostly performed by men.
The streets were lined with old wooden buildings that have been there for hundreds of years.
We were tired from all the walking and decided we were going to get a taxi to get us back to our hotel. I can't believe it but we actually were able to communicate enough and was taken directly to our hotel.
The Kyoto Tower is located by our hotel its a beautiful site especially at night.
The Kyoto Tower is located by our hotel its a beautiful site especially at night.Kyoto Tower
Kyoto
Tower is an observation tower located in Kyoto, Japan. The steel tower
is the tallest structure in Kyoto with its observation deck at 100 meters and its spire at 131 meters. The 800-ton tower stands atop a
9-story building, which houses a 3-star hotel and several stores. The
entire complex stands opposite Kyōto Station
